Sunday Scripture! A Year In Review

Matthew 22: 37-40

37 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt ^alove the Lord thy God with all thy ^bheart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy ^cmind.

38 This is the first and great ^acommandment.

39 And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt ^alove thy neighbour as thyself.

40 On these two commandments hang all the ^alaw and the prophets.

As 2009 comes to a close I find myself reflecting on all that has come about in the last year. It has been a year of ups and downs but mostly ups. How can I complain even for a moment when all the trials that the first half of the year brought were more than made up for with the blessings that followed! Jimmy losing his job ended up being one of the best things that has happened for our family, we were fortunate to have all that time with him and then when employment found him again it took us to a place unexpected, yet exactly where we needed to be. I have found the transition to be seamless, it fits like a glove, I don't really know how else to explain it. The friends I have made in such a short time are women I have come to love and admire and pray to know them for many many years to come!

It has also allowed me to be reminded of the wonderful friends I have in Las Vegas, the ones that I talk with regularly on the phone, through emails/facebook/blogging. I am grateful for technology that allows me to keep up with all that are far from me, I miss you and feel blessed to call you friends no matter where we might end up.


I am excited for the year ahead, for what may come, for what might be and for the lessons we will undoubtedly learn. Watching my children grow faster than I could ever permit, if it were up to me, has been a true joy in my life.


-Lexi is truly blossoming into a young women, she is a loyal daughter, sister and friend. She has such a happy heart and kind spirit although we are working on establishing just who is the mother of the household!


-Grace is full of spunk, she is making that transition between little kid to "big kid" and her wit just seems to increase in the process. I love her hugs and kisses and also her ability to find her independence, she is ready to take on the world, but she also loves to cuddle with me in her "off" time.


-James is turning into the 2 year old that is learning all the naughty things possible just to make sure I stay alert! I love his mischievous grin as he does the opposite of what I say. I seem to be much more relaxed in my parenting with him and while that could result in his one day criminal record, I guess I am rolling the dice and taking my chances.


Of all the gifts that my children received from us this year the most important is that of our time. My children will only remember that when they are grown, the trips to the park when I go down the slide with them, the road trips to visit relatives, time spent baking in the kitchen with them, all of the time just holding them on my lap or rubbing their backs and singing them to sleep. That is what I want to work on this year is doing all of those things more often, I am not a perfect mom by any stretch of the imagination but I try everyday to teach them of good things and to prepare them to be productive members of society. I know that I must continue in that same vane and then more, less time worrying about my "dirty house" and more time spent with my family.





The Lord has blessed us, has blessed me and I hope all good things for all of you in the this coming year. If your family has been challenged in finding employment or if you have lost a loved one, made a big move, had a big change or all of the above know that my thoughts and prayers are with you, I love you and wish all good things for you!!




I would love to post pictures from Christmas but as of now they are trapped on my memory card and it crashed so until I can retrieve them through a data recovery company or software program I have NONE! :(

Proof Of Progress!!

I have been working hard for the last several weeks to get my house all beautified and after yesterday I am feeling pretty good about things! Jimmy took the kids to his parents to work on laundry (no washer and dryer yet) so I could work on the house in piece and quiet!! I was able to get so much accomplished and the best part was that it stayed that way for longer than 10 min!! AMAZING RIGHT??!! So before they got home last night I took pics of the areas that are feeling mostly finished so I could show all of you that I haven't just been sitting around eating bonbons (who the crud ever ate those anyway??) There are still a few things needed, like curtains for the family room and some art for the guest room, I have all the ideas in my head but have yet to have the money to acquire the final touches, all in time I guess!!

Guest Room/Office/Sewing Room

The piece in the above picture is one of my favorite finds!! I will be doing a post soon on all the amazing things that I have acquired at garage sales/clearance sections/craigslist (free stuff). But the little table was from a garage sale last weekend, it is a 1940's nurses bed side table, now the significance of that is, my Grandma's nurses uniform from WWII is in the shadow box!! I was so excited when I found it, and even more when I only paid 10 BUCKS!!

Oh this is another favorite bargain find, this was originally 60$ and I paid 11$ at Target on clearance! I have several friends in Vegas that will be loving the print!! :)

To all the husbands out there, please don't be jealous of the fact that my husband goes to bed each night feeling like a princess underneath a canopy! I try to tell Jimmy that it is actually quite functional as it protects us from the mosquitoes :)

I LOVE eclectic stuff, old mixed with new, colors, textures, masculine and feminine styles all together. The little side table above was made by Jimmy when he was in High School and the chair was from Pottery Barn but I got it in a consignment shop for 75$ about 8 years ago!!!

This framed letter is the love note that Jimmy wrote to me when we were 10, I kept it all these years and then decided it deserved to be displayed!!

The woods look really dark in this picture but the day was almost done and there aren't a lot of lamps in there yet! They are more cherry ish and brown, I still have some things I want to refinish in this room but they have to wait in line as I have other projects to do first!!

This is the hallway upstairs that I decided would be the perfect place for lots of old and new family pictures! I am not a sketch it out kind of girl, I just start hanging stuff until I like the way it looks!

Party of 1 Thank you!

This is an off the top of my head kind of post, the kind that just decided to jump out as I was trying to catch up on other blogs! I was scrolling down my home page and noticed that I am BEHIND on EVERYTHING here, and EVERYTHING at home, when the crud am I supposed to catch up?? Let's start with the fact that I haven't updated my private blog or my photo blog in a long time, I haven't updated on us as a family in a long time! My house is still not all put together and it needs to be cleaned underneath all the other mess! I am way behind on editing pictures and some sewing projects and the worst is that I haven't painted my toenails in WEEKS!! I have spent moments recently in tears wondering how the heck I will get it all done and wondering how the heck I managed to be so far from "home" i.e Vegas??

Most days I am good here, you know, enjoying the cooler weather, organizing stuff in the new place, working on some FABULOUS projects that I can't wait to blog about by the way! Then there are the moments when I get invitations to friends birthday parties in Las Vegas or hearing that my ENTIRE family was all together in Vegas, and I couldn't be there, those are the moments that I have to hold back the burning behind my eyes and just breathe in and out saying "You are supposed to be here Marylin."

We went and registered the girls for school on Tuesday and it was surreal filling out the forms with a Colorado address and phone number and realizing that my kids are about to embark on a whole new adventure in starting at a new school!

Another weird aspect is the fact that the only time my home phone rings is if it's a telemarketer (the do not call list hasn't kicked in yet), no calls from friends saying "Let's have a craft night" or "Let's meet at the sand Park", no calls from people at church or PTA telling me about meetings or activities that I need to be at. I know it takes time for all that, but what about right now? When I am feeling lonely and a little left out. Pity party? Yes, thank you, for 1.

Things are good, really, I guess I just miss everything I love about Vegas, besides the strip clubs that is!









Love to You and Missing You!

Sunday Scripture! Forgive Me

I know it has been too long since I last my Sunday post but let me start fresh instead of playing catch up K.

1 Nephi 3:7

And it came to pass that I, Nephi, said unto my father: I will go and do the things which theLord hath commanded, for I know that the Lord giveth no commandments unto the children of men, save he shall prepare a way for them that they may accomplish the thing which he commandeth them.

Today as we attended our new Ward for the 2nd time I must say that it was a reminder that we are where we are "supposed" to be. The Lord has brought our family here, yes with some pushing, OK, dragging a bit at times, but we are in the place we are meant to be, and I think that's what has made this an easier transition. This time in my life reminds me of Nephi and how he was told to do things that were not easy and yet he was willing to obey the Lord, no matter what. I feel that I have made every attempt to be open to what the Lord has planned for me and for our family. I am grateful for the lessons we have been taught and are being taught, it has been very trying and I have had low points but when I am able to remember that the Lord has His hand in All things it makes it easier to go through the hard things. I work everyday to do as the Lord would have me, I know he loves me and he has a plan for me, if I were to fight His will then I would be missing out on blessings that He has in store. I feel blessed to be in a fantastic new ward, to be in a great neighborhood, in a nice home, with my family around me. What else could a girl ask for? OK, well I asked for chocolate chip cookies and I even got that!! Did I say that I LOVE my new ward!!??

Getting Creative!!

So we have been in our new place a week now and I LOVE it! What I don't love is having no chairs, tables, couches, beds, phones, Internet (until today), T.V., toys, kitchen supplies, washer/dryer, EVERYTHING you need to run a house! The story is that we rented a P.O.D back in April to store our stuff in and be shipped to Colorado and wait here for us to find a place, well for some reason we don't know, they never sent our P.O.D to Colorado so when we called to have it delivered they were like "Oh it's still in Las Vegas, and the soonest it can be to your new address is July 14th." Of course it's still in Las Vegas, cause who the heck likes things to go smoothly?!? Not us, nope! So then we debated on moving in last week when we had nothing to move in, but a few hours later and a reminder why living with your in-laws can be a challenge I made the executive decision to try camping for a bit in the new house!! Jimmy was wise to agree and so with a trip or 4 to the store to buy things that can be cooked in the microwave, in a bowl with milk, or don't need cooking at all, along with plastic spoons, paper-towels, a hand-vac, a can opener, toilet paper, paper plates, bug spray (I hate spiders and there are many in this land called Colorado, or Spiderland as I refer to it), and the few essentials we would need to survive!




Now ask yourself what do you do with three kids in an empty house for two weeks? We don't have crayons, pencils, markers cause that would just be an open invitation to color on walls, doors, people! The kids and I have gotten creative with our time, we do have a portable DVD player that they have used to watch a few (wink wink) movies, we have two hula-hoops, and a mini-football. I spent the first few days hanging up clothes on hangers that we have and trying to make some sense of things. We have spent time at the park near our house, driving around trying to find near-by grocery stores/gas stations/places to eat. We even made a trip to Goodwill and found a couple toys for James, Grace found a treasure or two and Lexi decided there weren't any books that looked good and she "wants to find a library!" I have gotten some work done on editing the pictures that I owe to several families, again thanks for your patience! I mostly maintain them and me until 4:30 when I know Jimmy will be getting off work and on his way home and then we go on walks around the neighborhood and I have someone to talk to that doesn't whine at me or need his diaper changed!

Don't worry she will thank me for getting this picture later!

We have picnics for every meal, and the kids don't seem to mind although keeping a 17 month old boy sitting without the help of a highchair has it's challenges! The girls have made friends with a little girl across the street and her parents found out that we "didn't even have a TV" so they sent over an extra one that they had and said we could use it until ours come!



Speaking of which, Jimmy and his brother Danny are driving this way, as I type, in a U-HAUL truck with a small portion of what was still in Vegas, including my DYSON!! Oh to hear the lovely sound of it's motor and never ending suction will be like the voice of a long lost friend!! Never as a child could I have anticipated loving a vacuum so much, and yet, I do!



Life is good for the Kelley's, we are rebounding quite nicely here in this new City. I have a couple friends, all of whom I knew before moving here and one happens to be in our new Ward!! That was wonderful having at least one familiar face on my first Sunday, she is also Lexi's Activity Day Leader, awesome! They have 3 nursery's and James has managed to find an open spot and joined right in, shh don't tell anyone that he is really two weeks from being old enough! Grace must have also felt right at home on Sunday because she threw a great tantrum during Sacrament meeting, even flopping around under the bench seat!

I want all of you to know that we are safe and sound here in Brighton, CO and not to worry cause they have a Target and a Wal-Mart nearby so I will be OK! My children are a reminder though that we have been City folk since their birth because we drove past one of the many farms near our home and Lexi was like "Oh MY GOSH, what are those tractors doing with all that Hay?" or "OH MY GOSH MOM, there is a horse trailer with horses in it, in the Wal-Mart parking lot!"







Grace has kept us laughing in all this, as always, and I have to share just one silly thing she said the other day. She and I were listening to my IPOD touch and she noticed there was a picture of the girls singing the song on the IPOD and she says


"Mom, I have a GREAT Idea! You could be a singer like these girls and be a super-star and make lots of money and get all the money and then Daddy will really love you!"
Me " Well, that is a great idea Grace, but I dunno if I could be a super-star."
Grace "Well, here Mom, let me hear you sing!"
I love that I felt like I was auditioning for American Idol or something for my 5 year old! Maybe she meant this kind of Superstar!



Oh wait, OK one more story, I just can't help myself!
The second day we were in Colorado Grace lost her first tooth (without it being knocked out), she got 5 one dollar bills from the tooth fairy and the next morning she came down stairs and says to Grammy Kelley "Here, Grammy (hands her a dollar), go get yourself a new couch, this one hurts my hips!" Oh Grace, really, your hips?! LOL

Love to you

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